


Spotlights Out

by Symme



Category: Bug Fables (Video Game)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Role Reversal, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25122430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Symme/pseuds/Symme
Summary: Zasp can only take so much scorn and neglect before he realizes he's been wasting his time, and Mothiva learns she has a real problem without her #1 stalker by her side.An alternate, canon-divergent take on Zasp & Mothiva's relationship in Bug Fables.
Relationships: Mothiva/Zasp (Bug Fables)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. The Fall

"H-Hngh..."

"I-Incredible..."

With the two guards defeated, only one final challenge remained for Team Snakemouth to prove themselves to the king and queen of the Termite Capitol. 

"Please, forgive us for having to beat you up," Kabbu remarked, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Leif added, his tone of its typical indifferent nature, "Eh, it's all in good sport."

Soon after, the awe-struck murmurs of the crowd echoed across the coliseum:

**"Wow..."**  
**"They beat Poi!"**  
**"Even Cross!?"**  
**"No way..."**

King Hector IV, however, still seemed quite unimpressed, forcing an expression of indifference to the surface of his visage. "H-Hmph! So you have so skill!"

And yet his wife, Queen Layra II, appeared fairly convinced herself, as per her own remark, "Oh my... Dear, Poi and Cross are not easily beat."

Hector sneered a reply, "W-Whatever! You're not claiming victory so easily! Now, you will face a captured creature that instills fear in the most hardened veteran!"

"Oh!? You'll... Are you sure!?" the queen worriedly inquired of her lover.

Fervent in his conviction, Hector barked forth his ultimatum, **"UNLEASH THE PRIMAL WEEVIL!"**

And into the arena was the creature in question unfettered, clambering forth towards the center of the ring. As it let forth a ferocious roar, Kabbu bestowed unto the beast a blank stare. "...Oh. He doesn't know, huh," he noted, recalling their earlier encounter with the beast mere hours ago; a skirmish the king was clearly unaware of himself.

"We've gotta beat it AGAIN!?" Vi complained, although she seemed more frustrated with the redundancy of it all rather than any actual hardship.

Suddenly, however, a familiar, sickeningly dulcet voice resonated throughout the arena: "No, no no! What a dull show, don't you all think? My dear public deserves better, so much better!"

**"That voice!"**  
**"Is that!?"**  
**"She's...!"**

In the blink of an eye, the form of Zasp materialized behind the primal weevil, and with one exhilarating kick, the beast was knocked entirely aside. As he landed upon the ground, a plume of smoke arose beside him, and from its clouds appeared the svelte frame of none other than Mothiva herself.

"That's right! It's me! Your one! Your only! The most loved in the Termite Kingdom!" she proclaimed, a proud grin the hallmark of her embellished features.

**"MOTHIVA!!"**  
**"MOTHIVA!!"**  
**"MOTHIVA!!"**  
**"MOTHIVA!!"**

The crowd roared ferociously with excitement. Even King Hector seemed thrilled by this unexpected appearance, "O-Oh!!! It's Mothiva!"

"Ohohoho! Her voice is smooth as ever!" Queen Layra added, the two of them equally as enthralled for the first time in what seemed like forever.

His arms crossed one over the other, Zasp gave Team Snakemouth a slight nod of his head. "'Sup."

Kabbu was the first of three to react to the sudden course of events, blinking rapidly as he interrogated the duo, "W-What are you doing here!?"

Mothiva rolled her eyes. "No way we'd let you steal any Queen's graces. When I heard you were coming... I just had to crash this party!"

"What do you gain from making this harder for us?" Leif questioned, readying a bolt of frigid magic in his open palm.

Vi added, "Yeah! We're on the same team!"

Zasp took a defensive stance, visibly convinced of his mission. "This show is to prove the enemy's strength. But also your strength, Team Snakemouth. If we defeat you, we'll show we're superior to you."

"And then the Queen's gonna HAVE to tag us along!" Mothiva cheerfully stated, clearly enticed by the thought.

For the first time, Kabbu seemed genuinely enraged by the two's interference, chiding their decision with a mordant tone of voice, "This is ridiculous! You realize you could be dooming us all!? What if the Termite King loses trust in the Queen!? What if you lose to the Wasp King without our help!? Have you gone completely, utterly insane!? Have you lost all intelligence!"

Again, Mothiva rolled her eyes. "Yikes. You're overthinking this WAY too much. The Ant Kingdom's way better in our hands than with you LOSERS."

"We have SAVED YOUR LIFE BEFORE, you WITCH!" Kabbu shouted, his anger now unrestrained as it boiled to the surface; the likes of which caused Vi and Leif to grant their enraged companion a wide berth as he prepared to unleash his fury upon the moth and wasp duo.

"I said we'd NEVER speak of that again!" the former rebuked, still clearly embarrassed by her own shortcoming earlier in the Honey Factory.

Leif then piped up, addressing who he perceived to be the more rational of the two, "... Zasp. You've helped us many times. Can't you talk some sense into her?"

Zasp simply shook his head. "Mothiva's placed all her faith in me, Team Snakemouth. I won't let her down." The last thing he desired was to abandon his idol; so long as she felt the same about him, of course.

"Ugh, I want the Primal Weevil back," Vi whined, procuring her beemerang for the inevitable battle between the two teams.

Growing more impatient by the second, Mothiva interjected, "Just SHUT UP and fight, you cowards! Let's get the crowd WILD AND CHEERING!"

**"MOTHIVA!!"**  
**"MOTHIVA!!"**  
**"MOTHIVA!!"**  
**"(T-team Snakemouth!)"**

From above, the king and queen proclaimed respectively, "Hehehehe! I agree! Anything to see Mothiva perform!" "How serendipitous. I'm looking forward to this."

"The fight starts... NOW!" Hector finally announced.

And with that, the two teams took to their duel. Leif almost immediately unleashed the volley of frost he had been building up since Zasp and Mothiva's arrival, freezing the former in his tracks as a block of ice ensnared the entirety of his being. Meanwhile, Vi grabbed hold of Kabbu and took to the skies, ascending higher and higher until finally allowing her companion to perform a devastating diving maneuver. Kabbu plummeted from above, his horn piercing straight through Mothiva's fluff and instantly knocking her aside.

The overconfident diva growled at the trio, attempting to muster a sonorous assault on them, but succeeding only in something of a hacking cough on account of her injury. Meanwhile, Zasp finally managed to break free of his icy prison, rushing forth and landing powerful blows against both Vi and Leif. As the latter attempted to freeze Zasp in his tracks, the former flew up above the skirmish once more, gesturing down to Leif from above. Nodding his head at her, the moth quickly shot a bolt of ice magic towards his ally, freezing Vi and causing her ice-encased form to fall back down; right over Zasp's head. As the chunk of ice collided and shattered against the wasp's head, Zasp collapsed to the ground while Vi leapt back over to Leif's side.

Still dealing with Kabbu, Mothiva sneered at what she perceived as a sub-par performance from her own companion. "Seriously Zasp? Get up!" With that, she sang forth a rejuvenating melody, allowing Zasp to swiftly recover from his previous injury as he rose from the floor of the arena. However, this much was enough to distract her, and as a result, she was unable to defend herself from Kabbu's charging maneuver; the likes of which instantly knocked her to the ground and incapacitated her. The wasp's fury at seeing Mothiva injured was swift and fierce, but it lasted only a short while before Vi's beemerang struck him in the head from behind, knocking him out as well.

And just like that, the fight was won.

"What an incredible battle! Bugaria holds so much strength! I-I mean... hmph. Not a bad showing!" King Hector reluctantly admitted, to which Queen Layra teased, "Hehehe. Oh my dear..."

"N-Ngh... Grrr!!!!... Hurk..." Mothiva mumbled into the ground, attempting to rise back onto her feet. "Zasp... What... was that?! How could you... let me down like that?!"

Still dazed himself, Zasp mustered the strength to respond to his idol's scathing accusation, "You're seriously... blaming me for this?..."

"Well, duh! I'm about as perfect as it gets... so clearly, if something went wrong, it was because of you!"

Ever since he had begun aiding Mothiva in her endeavors, Zasp hadn't once questioned his devotion to her, nor whether or not she'd truly return his unwavering loyalty. But now? He wasn't so sure anymore.

"Come on Zasp, you're better than this!" she added, still quite infuriated with both Team Snakemouth and her own companion's ineptitude.

Rubbing a newfound bruise upon his head, Zasp murmured to himself, "You're right... I _am_ better than this."

From afar, Team Snakemouth observed the transpiring development while tending to their own injuries. "Uh... You guys are seeing this too, right?" Vi piped up, to which Kabbu and Leif slowly nodded their heads.

Mothiva gave a repulsed sigh before adding, "Well, in any case, they've sullied my fluff and bruised my precious body, so I'll need you to spend the next day or so tending to it. It's the least you could do to make it to me, of course."

But by now, Zasp had endured quite enough of her treatment of him. No more. "... You know what? Forget this. I'm out of here." And with that, the wasp removed himself from the center of the arena and began to walk out of the coliseum, not even bothering to look back at his former idol.

"What the... Hey! Where do you think you're going? Get back here and idolize me!" Mothiva fumed, the target of her ire completely ignoring her words.

Leif seemed slightly amused by the display. "Oof. Tough break," he remarked.

"She kinda had it coming," Vi noted. "You can only treat people like that for so long before they don't want anything to do with you anymore."

"Like you and Jaune?"

"... Yeah. Except we made up, because we're better than that."

Kabbu shook his head, his rage seemingly quelled for the time being. "It appears as though the same cannot be said for Mothiva, I'm afraid."

Meanwhile, Mothiva was absolutely furious, her fluff frayed and ruffled. "GRRR!!! Fine! I didn't need you anyway! I still have my real fans! Right, everyone? Say my name!"

**"TEAM SNAKEMOUTH!!!"**

Shock gradually overtook the moth's countenance as she began to sweat. "Err... C-Come on, everybody! One more time!"

**"VI!"**  
**"KABBU!"**  
**"LEIF!"**  
**"(M-Mothiva!)"**

She began to sweat even more as the crippling realization dawned on her: she needed Zasp more than he needed her. Almost immediately, Mothiva began to sprint towards the exit of the arena. "Z-Zasp, wait! Come back! I need you fawn over me!"

And so, Team Snakemouth was left there in the center of the coliseum, the crowd cheering them on. The trio seemed to be more concerned about their opponents than their victory, however.

"You guys think they're going to work things out, like Jaune and I did?" Vi was the first to inquire.

Kabbu shook his head once more. "I could practically feel how disillusioned Zasp became in that moment. Not even Mothiva's charisma may be enough to win him back over."

"It's probably for the best," Leif added, to which the other two reluctantly agreed.

Besides, it wasn't their place to interfere. Whatever was to come of the relationship between Zasp and Mothiva was none of their business, after all.


	2. The Twist

"N-No! You won't pass! No one can pass!!!"

"Knock it off! You already lost!"

Manipulated by the powers of the Wasp King's crown, the quivering general stood adamant despite his defeat. "NO ONE WILL PASS! THOSE ARE THE KING'S ORDERS! I... I HAVE TO FOLLOW THE KING'S ORDERS! I... I MUST FOLLOW..."

A bit of worry crept into Kabbu's features as he witnessed the display. "T-This isn't normal!" he noted.

"That Wasp in the kingdom said everyone'd gone nuts... Could this one be controlled too?" Leif pondered, a torrent of frigid magic swirling in his grasp.

Vi was exasperated, wanting nothing more than to be done dealing with the Wasp King's lieutenant. "Just let us pass!"

"YOU WILL HAVE TO CRUSH MY BODY!" the general asserted, absolutely unflinching due to a lack of free will.

With that, Leif intervened, simply walking up to the trembling wasp and smiting him with a bolt of ice, freezing him solid.

A sigh of both surprise and relief escaped Vi as she spoke, "... That works."

Leif shook his head, clearly embittered by the abhorrent strategies that Hoaxe utilized. "That king employs such distasteful tactics. Let's leave this poor guy to the Ant Kingdom."

His suggestion was followed by a nod of agreement from Kabbu. "Indeed. Let's secure the area so reinforcements can come in. Then, we'll have to give swift chase! I will send the signal!"

"Team Snakemouth!"

A familiar voice came from behind, and all three of the team's members turned to behold a similarly familiar face approaching them.

"What the... Aw, not this again! We JUST finished fighting someone, and now him!?" Vi griped, pointing in the direction of Zasp's approaching form.

The wasp stopped in his tracks just a few inches before the trio, shaking his head. "I'm not here to fight. Rather... I'm here to apologize."

A startled "HUH?!" came from both Vi and Kabbu simultaneously, while Leif simply tilted his head a bit.

"Yeah... I spent some time thinking, and I came to the realization that, well... maybe Mothiva doesn't view me the same way I view her," he admitted, a bit of repressed sorrow plaguing his typically stoic voice.

"Oh, you thin- OW!" Vi began, only to be cut off by a jab from Kabbu, who interjected soon after, "... I know that truth may be hard to come to terms with, Zasp... but think of how much you've gone out of your way for her."

Leif added, his tone as grim as ever, "And has she ever repaid that fidelity? We think not."

The wasp gave a forlorn nod. "Exactly. So... Sorry for the poor judgement call on my part. I know it's caused you three a lot of grief."

Kabbu was the first to grant Zasp a respectful nod of his own, affirming his acceptance of the apology, "Think nothing of it, Zasp. I'm glad to see you've come around after all this time."

Vi did not appear to be so easily convinced, however. "Seriously?! We're just gonna instantly forgive him for getting in our way TWICE now?"

"You do not have to if you do not wish to do so, but if you still wish to pick a fight with him, I won't be a part of it," Kabbu asserted.

"Come on, Leif! Back me up on this one!"

The moth simply shrugged his shoulders. "Eh. He did save our life. We're not really in a position to hold a grudge. Not when so much is still at stake."

"Ugh! Fine... I guess I'll forgive you too or whatever. Just don't pull anything funny from now on, okay?" Vi acquiesced.

Zasp firmly patted his chest twice. "You have my word. I hope we can at least try to start over, so to speak."

The brief silence that arose between the four bugs was almost immediately shattered by the shouting of yet another familiar voice.

"ZASP!!"

As his own name reached him, the wasp gave a groan of vexation, raising a hand to his forehead and shaking his head. "Oh no...."

It was the disgruntled form of Mothiva that emerged behind Zasp, still clearly just as frazzled as when the team had last seen her in the Termite Capitol, if not moreso. "There you are! Do you have any idea how long I spent searching for you! I was so worried! What if something happened to you?! Then there would be no one to take care of me! Can you even imagine how tragic that would be, Zasp!? Hello? Say something to me, please!"

"Just ignore her and she'll go away... At least, I think," Zasp spoke, quite loud enough for even Mothiva to hear.

It was Kabbu who first gawked at the two of them. "Huh. Well, this is an... interesting development."

Leif added not long after, "We're surprised he's not giving her even an ounce of his attention. Must be taking all of his willpower."

Vi scoffed. "Or maybe he's just _that_ fed up with her. I know I am," she stated, though it seemed all of their words fell on deaf ears. Mothiva cared only about one thing at the moment: getting Zasp back.

"Come on, Zasp! Won't you please just look at me!? It's me, Mothiva! The one and only! The super famous, super cool pop star you love and adore to no end! Are you playing hard to get or something?! It definitely suits me more than it suits you! Isn't that what you want, Zasp? To toil after my affection!? You know you want to!" she rambled on, her capabilities clearly diminished when she didn't have Zasp at her beck and call.

"Should... Should we do something?" Kabbu inquired of his allies, a bit of concern visible beneath his helm. "It was peculiar and even a bit funny at first, but now... this just seems rather sad."

Vi shrugged. "She's had this coming for a while now. I say we just let it play out and see what happens."

"... Is that truly for the best, do you think?"

Leif nodded, agreeing with the bee's sentiment. "We think it should be interesting to see where it goes from here."

"Well... alright. If you say so. Let's round up the rest of the cavalry, then."

"I'll help," Zasp offered. "There are still quite a few wasps who haven't fallen under the King's control. They could be of use to us."

Kabbu seemed relatively overjoyed by the thought. "An excellent idea! I'm quite glad to see you putting your diplomatic leverage to good use, Zasp!"

"Hey, it's the least I could do for you three. Shall we get going?"

And so, Team Snakemouth and Zasp proceeded back across the bridge in order to round up the troops in question. Meanwhile, Mothiva simply stood there, looking around in a feverish manner as per the neglect she was receiving. "H-Hey! W-Wait for me! I can be helpful, too! Don't leave me behind! Please! C-Come back!" she stammered, rushing off after Zasp; and the others as well, but mostly Zasp.


End file.
